been diverted by the way he was standing there, calmly assessing her, his grey eyes glimmering with a brooding expression that she found hard to fathom.
She managed to find her voice once more. Breathing evenly to keep her composure, she said, ‘Actually, you don’t need to concern yourself about me being here. I know it must look odd, but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.’
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said. ‘Perhaps you’d care to enlighten me?’
‘Yes, of course.’ She frowned. Surely he wasn’t the owner of the property, who had come back to take a last look around? No one with his muscular build and general look of vitality would have left the place to fall into ruin, would they? She said carefully, ‘I have the wrong key. I mean, I thought I had the right key, but something’s wrong with it.’
‘Hmm. I can see how that would be a problem.’ His gaze narrowed on her, and she had the strong impression that he believed she was making it up as she went along. ‘Perhaps you should let me help you down from there and we might be able to find a way to sort this out.’
Sarah gave him a direct look. ‘Is that possible? Do you have a key?’
His mouth made a wry slant. ‘You’re not one to give up, are you? First things first…let’s start with me helping you down from there, shall we?’
She frowned, torn between ignoring him and gaining entry in her own way, and on the other hand acquiescing to his request. But since this man obviously didn’t intend going anywhere until she complied, she really didn’t have any choice but to follow his bidding. If she went on with her attempt to gain access to the house, it was more than likely that he would simply call the police, even though anyone could see that she wasn’t a burglar, couldn’t they?
‘I think I can manage by myself, thanks all the same.’ The bucket had long since rolled away and that would make her descent a trifle more precarious, but she wasn’t going to let that hamper her. She began to ease herself down from the window-sill and prepared to jump the last bit of the way.
He forestalled her, though, before her feet had even left the bulwark of the wall, reaching out to her and splaying his hands around her waist, so that she felt herself being lifted from her vantage point. Holding her close by using his long body as support, he allowed her to slide gently down the last couple of feet to the ground, leaving her humiliatingly aware of the taut proximity of his muscled length as her feminine curves were softly held against him.
Steadying her as her feet finally touched the ground, he waited for what seemed like endless moments before he gently released her. Sarah didn’t know where to look. She was having strange difficulty with her breathing, and her face must surely be flushed from that close encounter. She wasn’t at all confident that she wanted to look him in the eye just then.
‘Are you OK?’ His voice drifted over her, a deep rumbling sound that had her skin tingling in response. He was altogether too male, and far too close for comfort for her peace of mind.
‘I’m fine,’ she murmured, trying to shake off the sensation of heat that his touch had evoked in her, and which even now was racing out of control through her bloodstream. It was a distraction that she could do without, but one that nevertheless persisted in clouding her mind.
‘If you’re sure about that,’ he said, ‘perhaps you could tell me what you’re doing here?’
She looked up at him then, a hint of annoyance flashing in her blue eyes. ‘I would have thought that was fairly obvious,’ she retorted. ‘I want to look around the house. What did you think I had in mind—an attempt to make off with the antiques?’
He inclined his head a fraction. ‘I have to admit that thought had crossed my mind. Alfred left some valuable bits and pieces in the house when he went into hospital, and I promised him that I would pack them up and send them on to his family. I’ve been too busy of late to finish the job, but I planned on crating up the last few items today.’
Sarah’s jaw dropped. ‘I didn’t realise… I mean…I had no idea that there were any such things in the house.’ She pressed her lips together momentarily and then added in a husky tone, ‘Look, do you think we could start again? This is not at all what it must appear. I really do have a key that the estate agent gave me, but I think he must have mixed it up with one for another property. Perhaps the numbers are the same, or maybe there’s a Bridge End Road somewhere.’
He studied her thoughtfully for a second or two, his grey gaze flicking over her, and she looked away, feeling awkward. Then pride came to her rescue and she braced herself to deal with the situation. Why should she feel guilty for simply trying to counter the estate agent’s mistake?
Dragging her eyes back to his tall frame a moment later, she forced herself to meet his gaze.
To her surprise, he nodded. ‘You’re probably right.’
Sarah gave a soft sigh of relief. Was he finally accepting that she wasn’t an intruder? His expression was noncommittal, though, and she studied him closely, trying to work out what might be going on in his mind. It was a doomed effort, and after a moment her thoughts wandered idly. She couldn’t help but notice how well the short-cropped cut of his midnight-black hair suited him. It seemed somehow at one with his strongly defined features, the angular jaw and the straight line of his brows.
He said crisply, ‘I dare say there must have been a mistake somewhere along the way…only the property wasn’t supposed to be going on the market for another couple of days. By then I would have finished with the clearing up.’
Sarah’s attention came back with a jerk. ‘Yes, the agent did tell me that they weren’t quite ready…but he didn’t seem to be at all concerned about me coming to look the place over.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me at all.’ His mouth made a crooked shape. ‘The cottage is in such bad condition that they’ll probably struggle to find a tenant. I wouldn’t have thought many people would want to take it on, and Alfred’s family haven’t yet managed to find a buyer.’
A small line indented her brow. ‘Has something happened to Alfred? You said that he went into hospital.’ All at once Sarah found herself concerned with the fate of the poor man who had been too ill to maintain his property and who’d had to abandon all his worldly goods to another’s care. ‘You’re a friend of his?’
‘Neighbour. I live next door. I used to call round to make sure that he was all right. Then, one day, I found him in a state of collapse after he’d had a fall. It turned out that his heart had gone into an abnormal rhythm, causing him to black out for a short time. He cracked a rib as he fell against the sideboard and he wasn’t able to get up again.’
Sarah sucked in a quick breath. ‘Had he been lying there for a long while?’
He shook his head. ‘A matter of minutes, I believe. I think he was just about to prepare for bed when he became ill. Luckily, I was on a late shift that day, and when I came home happened to check on him.’
‘So you called for an ambulance and waited with him?’
He nodded. ‘I did. It wasn’t too long before the paramedics arrived.’
She tried to imagine how she would have coped under those circumstances. ‘Even so, that must have been nerve- racking wait.’
‘From
